Ali New Series Gives Voice to Afghan Leaders
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The 'unstoppable' peace process in Nad 'Ali By Tristan Kelly With a reduction in violence of 86 per cent compared to 2010, the people who live in Nad 'Ali district, an area once renowned for being a hotbed of the Taliban insurgency, are enjoying unprecedented levels of security. And now, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has announced that the area, which is to the west of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province and within the British area of operations, will be among the second tranche of areas across the country to begin formal transfer to Afghan security control. However, today's relative security has been hard fought and some years in the making. British and other ISAF forces first entered the region in 2006. Work soon began to disrupt and dislodge the Taliban from the region and in December 2008 a major operation - named SOND CHARA - was launched by British, Danish, Estonian and Afghan forces to clear insurgents from the district centre. (STORY) New series gives voice to Afghan leaders By Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- A new series called “In their voices” kicks off today to give local Afghan leaders a means to tell the world about their successes and challenges in Helmand. The series is a compilation of video interviews with key leaders in several areas of Helmand, to include Sangin and Marjah, and provides personal accounts of the areas prior to coalition forces arriving, as well as current conditions. The Afghan people have long been embroiled in the battleground that is their home. Their history is filled with invasions from foreign nations, internal strife, and Taliban insurgents bent on domination of the population. However, the people of Helmand are working to build a brighter future, one of security and peace. “We want to build Afghanistan into a stable, democratic and prosperous country, a country that is the peaceful home of all Afghans, and that enjoys friendly, mutually rewarding relations with all its near and extended neighbors and beyond,” said President Hamid Karzai, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, during the December International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn, Germany. (STORY) Solar energy project provides new opportunities for shop owners in southern Afghanistan By Cpl. Meredith Brown GARMSIR DISTRICT, Afghanistan -- Against the backdrop of a piercing mid-day sun, a squad of U.S. Marines quietly patrols along a Garmsir road. A slew of guests walk evenly within their ranks, following their escorts through the bazaar. For the first of three times this week, the Marines of Guard Force Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, provide security for their guests to meet with local leaders at the district center here. This isn’t their first task of the day. A few hours before, they posted security from guard towers around nearby Forward Operating Base Delhi, providing overwatch in the biting cold, shivering through five-hour, early morning shifts. It also isn’t their last duty of the day. Each is part of Guard Force’s endless cycle of shifts on post, patrol and rest. Even during their rest time, each of the platoon’s three squads remains ready to function as a quick reaction team. “Our operational tempo is rigorous and our schedule is always changing,” said Sgt. Curtis Wolf, a 27-year-old Guard Force squad leader, and native of Bellevue, Mich. “The grind for our Marines is seven months of irregular sleep hours and not much off-time.” Guard Force isn’t a traditional infantry platoon. It’s a melting pot of Marines from various occupational specialties. (STORY) From insurgent hotbed to commercial hub: Afghans, Marines clear Safar Bazaar of remnants of illegal activity during Operation Sandman By Cpl. Reece Lodder SAFAR BAZAAR, Afghanistan -- Safar Bazaar was once a hotbed for insurgents, its shops teeming with illegal drugs and streets laden with improvised explosive devices. Over the last two years, four Marine infantry battalions and their Afghan National Security Forces counterparts have labored to make it safe. Today, the buzzing bazaar is the commercial hub of southern Garmsir district. Thousands of Afghans from around the district travel to the bazaar each week to purchase goods. On ‘Bazaar Day’ every Tuesday, a sea of approximately 2,500 eager shoppers swallows up the streets. From the shade of his shop, a butcher stood behind an array of meat hanging from metal hooks. Two men baked bread and cooked kabobs for hungry visitors while their neighboring vendor attempted to draw interest to his dusty collection of shoes. Down the road, the methodical reverberation of a hammer hitting metal revealed a man crafting a trailer frame outside his shop.(STORY) Open for business: 9th ESB builds route to bring further growth to Helmand By Cpl. Katherine M. Solano HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- The Marines with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), are currently conducting a mission that is, in some of the engineer’s own words, a vital operation. They are constructing a route in an area that otherwise has nothing like it. The development of this main supply route is vital because it will ensure that the local nationals have a safe way to transport their goods throughout Helmand province, said Cpl. Mark E. Mattiacio, a heavy equipment operator with 9th ESB. “There really are no other [established] roads out here that can be proclaimed as safe for the locals to drive on,” Mattiacio continued. (STORY) Apache strikes senior Taliban commander Defence News A senior Taliban commander has been killed by an Apache helicopter strike during an operation conducted by British and Afghan soldiers to disrupt activity in an insurgent 'safe haven' in Helmand province. Soldiers from D Company, 5th Battalion The Rifles (5 RIFLES), and their partners from the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have been taking the fight to the insurgents in the south of the Nahr-e Saraj district for the last few weeks. In the past two months, the combined forces have pushed the insurgency out of the Babaji area of the district, helping the Afghan police to build new checkpoints and cut off routes used by insurgents to infiltrate the area, and increase security. Now the British soldiers and the ANSF have handed over responsibility for security for Babaji to Afghan police and are turning their attention to the Kopak region in the north of their area of operations - an insurgent 'safe haven.’ (STORY) Afghan general, provincial officials meet, discuss women’s roles in Afghanistan’s development, governance By MCC(SCW) L.A. Shively CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- Brig. Gen. Khatool Mohammadzai, director for women’s affairs in the Afghan National Army, recently met civilian and military leaders with the goal of improving women’s participation in the development and governance of Helmand province and ultimately her country, Afghanistan. The group's first stop was the U.K.-led Bastion Role III Hospital to see and comfort patients. Through an interpreter, Mohammadzai said she was impressed with the high level of service the patients received. “I am very happy and very proud there are people here who are caring for them,” Mohammadzai said to the 30 or so hospital staff who gathered around her in an ante-room. She gave special recognition to those in leadership positions and in uniform calling them heroes. Mohammadzai also commended the women. “You have all left your family behind." (STORY) ANA, Marine partnership establishes combat medics course By Cpl. Alfred V. Lopez CAMP GARMSIR, Afghanistan -- As a squad of Afghan National Army soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 215th Corps, patrols a dusty road, chaos ensues. A Marine advisor calls out that a simulated improvised explosive device exploded, and points to two Afghan soldiers, who fall to the ground as mock casualties. Several ANA soldiers immediately set up security, as another soldier rushes to aid the casualties. Within 10 minutes, the trainee has performed a combat life saver triage, and the casualty is being evacuated to the nearest clinic in an Afghan ambulance. The carefully controlled chaos is part of the final exercise for the inaugural 1/215 combat medic course here, Dec. 31. “The course will be able to help us train soldiers to become medics and support our medical section,” said Maj. Abdul Baqi, the surgeon in charge of medical operations with 1/215. (STORY) (VIDEO) Religious shura in Garmsir promotes peace and stability By Cpl. Bryan Nygaard GARMSIR, Afghanistan -- “Let there be no coercion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy handhold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.” – The Noble Quran 2:256 During the 10 years that the U.S. and its ISAF allies have been in Afghanistan, the fight has not been for cities, hills or some other piece of land that holds strategic value. The fight has been for the minds of the Afghan people. The expression “hearts and minds” has long been dismissed as cliché and hollow, but it embodies the very essence of counter-insurgency operations being conducted to provide stability in a country that has been ravaged by war for more than 30 years. Afghanistan is a tribally divided multiethnic country of 29 million people who are united by the religion of Islam. It serves not just as a philosophy, but also as an all-encompassing part of their existence. Another trait shared among Afghans is a low literacy rate. According to Lt. Col. Pat Carroll (retired), the cultural and governance advisor for stability operations in Regional Command Southwest, illiteracy allows them to be easily influenced by insurgents. (STORY) Combat engineers perform route recon mission, paving the way for road improvements in Afghanistan By Cpl.